Operating head for rotating shaft of hopper closure



G. B. DOREY June 12, 1956 OPERATING HEAD FOR ROTATING SHAFT OF HOPFER CLOSURE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed sept. 18, 1952 Lid June 12, 1956 G. B. DoRr-:Y 2,749,770

OPERATING HEAD FOR ROTATNG SHAFT OF HOPPER CLOSURE Filed Sept. 18, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @5 /ZN /g/ /150 /3/ 1N V EN TOR.

A 7 BY (11205965 0f PERATING HEAD FOR ROTATING SHAFT OF HUPPER CLOSURE George B. Dorey, Westmount, Quebec, Canada, assignor to Enterprise Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, lill., a corporation of Illinois Application September 1S, 1952, Serial No. 310,202

4 Claims. (Cl. 745-548) This invention relates to an improved operating head for rotating the shaft of a hopper closure, such as the sliding gate of a hopper discharge outlet, wherein the gate is moved by a rotating shaft having pinions cooperating with rack teeth on the underside of the gate.

In such hopper structures it is customary to place the discharge outlet directly above the space between the rails and at a considerable distance inwardly of the car sides and to operate the gate by a shaft extending transversely of the car towards the car sides, there being provided on the end of the shaft an operating head having a plurality of socket openings at an obtuse angie to allow the placement of a removable bar in such a manner as to clear the car side walls. Operation of the shaft in this manner by a bar held at an obtuse angle results in considerable spring in the bar and renders the opening operation of the gate difcult when heavily compacted lading is being handled in the car.

The invention herein contemplates an improvement on the conventional means and method now employed by providing an operating head having a plurality of openings arranged with stepped fulcrum abutments whereby an operating bar may be held in various radial positions in any one opening thereby providing for operation in a series of ratcheting strokes.

The invention is by way of an improvement on my copending United States Patent application Serial No. 112,- 033, tiled August 24, 1949, Patent No. 2,628,575 issued February i7, 1953, wherein pairs of elongated slots are arranged to receive a removable bar in various radial positions separated by 90 intervals. In the structure shown in said pending application any change in peripheral position necessitates complete removal of the bar from its holding socket and reinsertion in the next Succeeding socket lying at a peripheral interval of 9i). The present invention permits of the bar being held in one socket opening in different radial positions and variations in the radial position at intervals of less than 90.

This invention is disclosed in the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings and it comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be appended in the appended claims.

For a comprehension of the invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure l is a View in end elevation of an outlet assembly for the hopper of a railway car incorporating the improved head, said view showing the side wall of the car and a portion of the center sill.

Figure 2 is a vertical side elevational View of the structure shown in Figure l as taken on a line 2-2 of Figure l and showing in full lines the operating bar in one extreme radial position and showing in conventional dot and dash lines the bar held in another extreme radial position while the bar is still retained in the same socket opening.

ite States Patent O within a bearing lli formed in the frame 107A 2,749,770 Patented June 12, 1956 Figure 3 is a fractional view of Figure 2 showing on an enlarged scale the operating bar in the same socket opening as Figure 2 but held in an intermediate radial position between the extreme positions shown in Figure l.

Figure 4 is a detached side elevational View on an enlarged scale of the operating head.

Figure 5 is a vertical end View of the operating head shown in Figure 4.

Referring now particularly to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, the reference character 160 shows a portion of the center sill of a car and itil represents one of the side walls of the car spaced outwardly laterally from the center sill. interposed between the center sill and side wall itil is a four-sided hopper including inner and outer long longitudinally extending side walls inndicated at E02 and 163 respectively. Said longitudinal walls meet with transversely extending sloping walls 104 and 1&5 which slope longitudinally towards a hopper opening deiined by the walls 192, lr03, 1M and HB5.

Surrounding the hopper opening is a frame l0? having a sliding gate 16S to close the opening. Pivotally mounted in the frame is a rotatable shaft 139 having pinions 110 cooperating with rack teeth lll on the underside of the gate lil for moving the latter by rotation of the shaft.

On the outer end of the shaft i819 there is provided an operating head il?. embodying my improvement. Said head 1l?. includes a sleeve portion 113 which extends The sleeve portion H3 includes a rectangular opening 115 for receiving the similarly shaped portion of the shaft 169 thereby providing for non-rotatably mounting the head 112 thereon. A pin or rivet 116 extends through the sleeve portion 113 of the head H2 and through the shaft 109 for holding them inseparable. A flange 117, formed integrally with the sleeve portion 1113, is arranged to bear against the adjacent end of the bearing 114 to prevent inward axial movement of the head and shaft assembly.

The operating head 1l2 has an operating bar receiving portion that is indicated generally at 118. The'operating bar receiving portion 118 includes four L-shaped sections il? which extend longitudinally of the head 112 and each includes two walls l2@ 12i forming a generally swastilra shaped section. The L-shaped sections 119 are disposed in circumferentially 90 spaced relation to provide four openings 122 therebetween for the accommodation of a removable bar indicated at 123. The sections H9 extend in the same general direction around the axis of the shaft 1639 with the walls 120 forming portions of the periphery 124 of the head. The walls 129 are longer than the inwardly extending walls 121 as the latter terminate at an appreciable distance from the axis of the shaft M9 in order to provide for the positioning of the removable bar E23 clear through from one side of the head i12 to the other side across the axis of the shaft as will be noted by reference to Figure 2 and indicated by the position of the bar 123 shown by dot and dash lines. The wall 121 may extend at right angles to the walls i203, as shown, or they may extend radially inwardly at acute angles with respect to the walls 120.

In order to permit the through insertion of the bar 123 as seen by dot and dash lines in Figure 2, the L-shaped sections 119 are preferably four in number and disposed at 90 intervals thereby providing for transverse align ment of openings 122 across the axis of rotation of the head. The clear through insertion of the removable bar 123 provides for an exceedingly stable retention of it in the head i12 and represents one of the radial positions in which it may be held. The bar 123 may be held in various radial positions while retained in any one of the four openings 122, the radial position depending on the fulcrum with which it engages beyond any of the openings 122. The through engagement, Figure 2, broken lines, represents one extreme position of the bar 123 and the other extreme is that position when it is held in the pocket formed by the interior surface 126 of wall 120 and the exterior surface 127 of wall 121 as seen in full lines in Figure 2. With the bar 123 held between surfaces 126 and 127, the interior surface 128 of Wall 121 presents an end wall for the pocket to limit inward movement of the bar.

For holding the bar 123 intermediate said extreme radial positions there is provided an abutment 129 representing the inner edge portion of wall 121. In this intermediate radial position the bar 123 is held between abutment 129 and the exterior surface 127 of wall 121 as seen in Figure 3.

The L-shaped sections 119 are formed integrally with end walls 130 and 131 that, as shown in Figure 4, extend at right langles to the longitudinal axis of the operating head 112 which also is its axis of rotation. A square head 132 projects outwardly from the end wall 131 for receiving a wrench, if desired, to rotate the shaft 109.

The various openings 122 are of elongated shape providing for limited lateral adjustment of the bar 123 when in operating position in the openings 122. Thus the bar 123 can be positioned at right angles to the axis of rotation of the head 112 and projecting beyond opposite sides thereof to break the gate 108 loose or to close it finally. With the improved construction it will be noted that the bar 123 can be held in three different radial positions in any one of the four openings 122 thus providing for twelve different positions and that in any of these positions it can be located at right angles or at an acute angle to the axis of rotation of the head 112. Also it can be positioned at an angle to turn the head 112 and clear the outer side wall 103.

From Figure 3 it will be apparent that the perpendicular distance between the surface 126 of any of the L- shaped sections 119 and the plane containing the surface 127 of the next L-shaped section 119 is about the same as the minimum distance between adjacent pairs of L- shaped sections 119. Therefore, the removable bar 123 will t fairly closely in any of the three operative positions that it can occupy between any two of the L-shaped sections 119.

The flexibility of operation thus provided by the various possible radial positions of the bar 123 enables the operator to work with a long bar beneath the level of the car side wall 103. The convenience thus afforded is of importance in releasing the gate 103 with lading of a heavily compacted character. The fact that the operating -bar 123 may be held in various radial positions without removal from any one opening 122 is of special advantage when a long and heavy removable bar 123 is employed. With the improvements embodied in the present invention the transition from one fulcrum to another to change the radial position merely necessitates moving the bar 123 in the opening 122 towards or away from the axis of rotation as may be necessary.

What is claimed as new is:

l. An operating head adapted to be non-rotatably mounted on one end of a shaft for rotating the same about its longitudinal axis by insertion of an operating bar to move a closure of a hopper car discharge opening or the like comprising, in combination, a shaft attaching portion and an operating bar receiving portion constituting an endwise extension of the former and rotatable therewith about said axis, said operating bar receiving portion including four L-shaped sections spaced uni- Y formly from and about its axis of rotation and extending lengthwise parallel thereto with the long arm of each section generally perpendicular to the diameter of said operating bar receiving portion and the short arm of each section extending inwardly therefrom and leaving the central part of said operating bar receiving portion open along diameters at right `angles to each other whereby when the operating bar is inserted radially between any two of said L-shaped sections it can have any of three operative positions with respect to said operating bar receiving portion.

2. An operating head adapted to be non-rotatably mounted on one end of a shaft for rotating the same about its longitudinal axis by insertion of an operating bar to move a closure of a hopper car discharge opening or the like comprising, in combination, a shaft attaching portion and an operating bar receiving portion constituting an endwise extension of the former and rotatable therewith about said axis, said operating bar receiving portion including four L-shaped sections spaced uniformly from and about its axis of rotation and extending lengthwise parallel thereto with the long arm of each section generally perpendicular to the diameter of said operating bar receiving portion and the short arm of each section extending inwardly therefrom and leaving the central part of said operating bar receiving portion open along diameters at right angles to each other with the perpendicular distance between the inner surface of the long arm of each section and the plane containing the nearer surface of the short arm of the next section being only slightly less than the minimum distance between adjacent pairs of L-shaped sections whereby when the operating bar is inserted radially between any two of said L-shaped sections it can have any of three operative positions with respect to said operating bar receiving portion,

3. An operating head adapted to be non-rotatably mounted on one end of a shaft for rotating the same about its longitudinal axis by insertion of an operating bar to move a closure of a hopper car discharge open- Ving or the like comprising, in combination, a shaft attaching portion and an operating bar receiving portion constituting an endwise extension of the former and rotatable therewith about said axis, said operating bar receiving portion being formed by a pair of spaced end walls extending at right angles to said axis and four L-shaped sections connecting said end walls and spaced uniformly from and about its axis of rotation and extending lengthwise parallel thereto with the long arm of each section generally perpendicular to the diameter of said operating bar receiving portion and the short arm of each section extending inwardly therefrom and leaving the central part of said operating bar receiving portion open along diameters at right angles to each other whereby when the operating bar is inserted radially between any two of said L-shaped sections it can have any of three operative positions with respect to said operating bar receiving portion.

4. An operating head adapted to be non-rotatably mounted on one end of a shaft for rotating the same about its longitudinal axis by insertion of an operating bar to move a closure of a hopper car discharge opening or the like comprising, in combination, a shaft attaching portion and an operating bar receiving portion constituting an endwise extension of the former and rotatable therewith about said axis, said operating bar receiving portion being formed by a pair of spaced end walls extending at right angles to said axis and four L-shaped sections connecting said end walls and spaced uniformly from and about its axis of rotation and extending lengthwise parallel thereto with the long arm of each section generally perpendicular to the diameter of said operating bar receiving portion and the short arm of each section extending inwardly therefrom and leaving the central part of said operating bar receiving portion open along diameters at right angles to each other with the perdendicular distance between the inner surface of the long arm of each sec- References Cited in the tile of this patent tion and the plane containing the nearer surface of the UNITED STATES PATENTS short arm of the next section being only slightly less to said operating bar receiving portion. 366 215 France July 23 1906 

